Successfully Added
The product is added to your quote.
2 Year Warranty on ALL products
The Complexity Tax: Why Too Many Automation Platforms Quietly Drain Factory Performance
Most factories don’t suffer from a lack of automation.
They suffer from too much of it — specifically, too many different platforms, vendors, generations, and architectures layered on top of each other over time.
The result is what we call the “complexity tax” — the hidden operational cost of running too many variations of the same industrial automation systems.
It’s not a line item in the budget, and it’s not visible on a dashboard — but it shows up everywhere: in training, in troubleshooting, in spares, in documentation, and in how confidently people can operate and maintain their own systems.
What Is the Complexity Tax in Industrial Automation?
The complexity tax is the cumulative operational burden created by running too many different PLC platforms, drive families, HMI systems, and control architectures inside the same organization.
It appears when factories run:
- Multiple PLC families doing similar jobs
- Several generations of drives and motion platforms
- Different HMIs for different lines with no interface standards
- Custom one-off control solutions instead of repeatable patterns
Each decision may have made sense locally. Together, they create a system that is harder to understand, harder to support, and harder to improve.
Where Automation Complexity Actually Hurts
1. Training and Knowledge Retention
Technicians don’t learn “PLC.” They learn a specific platform, programming environment, diagnostic workflow, and hardware ecosystem.
When every line is different, learning never compounds — it resets.
2. Spares and Inventory Strategy
Each additional platform multiplies the number of spares you must stock or risk not having.
For example, standardizing on a small set of servo and motion platforms — such as the Yaskawa SGDH-10AE servo drive or the Mitsubishi MR-J2S-200B servo amplifier — means fewer part numbers, fewer vendor relationships, and faster recovery when replacements are needed.
3. Troubleshooting Speed
Engineers troubleshoot faster when patterns repeat.
Standard architectures turn failures into recognition problems, not discovery problems.
4. Change Risk
Teams avoid improving systems they don’t fully understand.
Complexity doesn’t just slow operations — it slows progress.
Why Factories End Up with Too Many Automation Platforms
Most factories didn’t choose complexity intentionally. It accumulated over time through:
- Acquisitions and inherited equipment
- Different integrators with different platform preferences
- Urgent fixes that bypassed long-term architecture planning
- Decades of evolving technology
No single decision caused the problem. The system drifted into it.
Standardization Is Not Uniformity
Standardization does not mean everything must be identical.
It means defining preferred platforms, patterns, and exceptions intentionally.
- Common PLC and motion platforms for core functions
- Documented exceptions instead of accidental ones
- Repeatable architectures instead of one-off designs
You can allow diversity without allowing chaos.
How to Reduce Automation Complexity Without Disruption
1. Create a Platform Map
List every PLC, drive family, HMI platform, and control architecture currently in use.
Seeing the sprawl is often the first step toward reducing it.
2. Define Preferred Standards Going Forward
You don’t need to replace everything — just stop adding new variants.
Pick preferred platforms for new projects and replacements.
3. Migrate Opportunistically
When a controller, drive, or interface needs replacement anyway, move it toward the standard.
For example, teams often consolidate I/O and control layers around stable modules like the Siemens 6ES7231-7PD22-0XA0 PLC module, so architecture gradually becomes simpler instead of more fragmented.
4. Document Patterns, Not Just Parts
Document how systems are designed and why — not just what components they contain.
This is what allows knowledge to scale across people and sites.
What We See in the Field
At Industrial Automation Co., the most efficient factories we work with are rarely the ones with the newest equipment.
They’re the ones with the fewest variations.
They recognize faults faster, train people faster, and recover more confidently — because their systems are familiar, not exotic.
Self-Assessment: Is Automation Complexity Slowing You Down?
- Do you run more than three PLC families for similar applications?
- Do different lines require different training for the same role?
- Do you carry many rarely used spares across multiple vendors?
- Do only one or two people understand most of your control systems?
- Do small changes feel risky because of architectural uncertainty?
If yes, you’re likely paying a complexity tax.
Final Thought
Factories don’t become complex because people are careless.
They become complex because people are busy.
Reducing complexity isn’t about blame. It’s about reclaiming clarity.
And clarity is one of the most powerful operational advantages a factory can have.